go . . .
LONG GAP—for your meditation
And if at any stage you do notice your mind wandering or becoming distracted . . . as soon as you become aware of that . . . gently bring your attention back to that point of stillness . . . relaxing . . . releasing . . . just going with it . . . melting . . . merging . . . simply resting in the stillness . . . quite effortlessly . . . effortlessly . . . letting go . . . letting go . . .
LONG GAP—for your meditation
That’s good . . . good . . . good . . . When you are ready now . . . just let your eyes gently open once again.
Meditation Conclusion
The aim of our meditation is to relax deeply and to rest in the balance of deep natural peace. In any given session of meditation, we do the simplest things that will help us to this end. So if we need to, it may be wise to start by taking the time to go through the complete progressive muscle relaxation exercise. But if we have practiced enough and it works for us, it may be enough to simply take a deeper breath or two and feel the body relax quickly and deeply.
Once we feel the body to be relaxed, we become more mindful. We notice whatever does come to our awareness, free of any judgment or commentary. We just allow things to come when they are ready, go when they are ready, and we remain in undistracted awareness.
As time goes on a deeper stillness becomes apparent. Sounds may come and go, thoughts may come and go. They do not disturb us. We rest in deep, natural peace. And as we do so, there is the knowing that we are in a state of deep, natural balance. And the healing flows.
Happy meditating. Happy healing.
Positive Thinking: The Conscious Mind at Work
It was Henry Ford who said, “Whether you think you can or you think you cannot, you are right!”
What is the most important thing when it comes to any treatment you may be considering, whether it be a medical or a nonmedical treatment? Clearly, it is your mind, as your mind will decide whether you agree to that treatment or not. Your mind will decide whether you continue with the treatment or cease it. Further, your mind has the very real potential to significantly influence the outcome by reinforcing or sabotaging the treatment.
What is the most important thing when it comes to the food you eat? Clearly it is the mind, as it is your mind that will decide what you eat and how much you eat, as well as what you drink, and whether you exercise along with that.
Clearly, the mind is responsible for the choices we make, the knowledge and experiences we remember, the habits and the beliefs that shape our lives. However, everyone who has studied the mind, from the ancient mystics to the modern neuroscientists, says we use barely a fraction of our mind’s potential. In these next three chapters we will learn how to train the mind and how to activate its potential for restoring health and for maintaining well-being.
To provide some structure and so that we can understand the various aspects of the mind and their potential for healing, here is an outline of what we will cover:
The Four Ways in Which the Mind Influences Healing
1. Consciously—Via Positive Thinking
We will learn that positive thinking is about making good decisions and following them through. Positive thinking recognizes that it is the mind that shapes our world through the choices it makes. Our health and our healing, in fact all that we do, will be dramatically affected by whether we make constructive or destructive decisions, and whether we follow through on those decisions or not.
2. Unconsciously—Via Our Habits and Belief Systems
i) The beliefs we hold have the potential to significantly influence the outcome of everything we do. We will examine the powerfully positive placebo response and the incredibly destructive impact of the “pointing of the bone.” Together, these two phenomena graphically reveal the mind’s capacity to influence healing directly. Then we will learn what we need to do to gain the full benefit from the power of belief.
ii) The habits we live with will directly affect our potential to heal. Are you lazy in some ways? Do you have trouble exercising regularly? Are you habitually bound to eating certain things? Do you have difficulty sticking to what you know you need to do? Habits can be changed. We will learn how to identify what, if anything, does need changing, and then how to make necessary changes in a way that is empowering, sustainable and actually fun! This is a crucial element of recovery.
3. The Mind-Body Connection
Here we will examine how the mind can be mobilized to directly activate healing. We will learn more about how to apply the techniques of imagery and affirmation.
4. Meditation
Meditation establishes an ideal state of balance. From this balance healing flows free of effort, almost automatically. We have covered meditation thoroughly in the previous chapters.
Let us begin.
The Conscious Mind, Positive Thinking and Healing
Imagine a loving mother who is giving her all to being the best mother that she can be. Do you imagine she ever feels that she is managing 100 percent? But do you imagine she ever gives up trying? Of course she does not. That is what positive thinking is all about—always aiming to do the best we possibly can, acknowledging our strengths and weaknesses, being comfortable with what we do achieve and knowing we will become better and better at whatever we turn our attention to.
Positive thinking is all about using our mind intelligently. Specifically, positive thinking involves understanding how our mind works, and then getting the best out of its vast potential.
The crucial point in this field of mind training is to realize there is a big difference between positive thinking and wishful thinking.
Wishful thinking is where you hope for the best and do nothing about it.
Positive thinking is where you hope for the best and do a lot about it.
This is a fundamental distinction and opens up our understanding to the truth of what “positive thinking” really is. Positive thinking is way more than just that optimistic hope—“If he can do it, so can I.” That hope is real enough. It is true; it has to be done only once to show that it is possible. But what did she do to achieve what she did? And what are you prepared to commit to, to achieve the results you are after?
Positive thinking begins when we use our mind to choose a specific goal. But then we must act on that goal. We need to use our mind to commit to that goal and embrace all we need to do to give ourselves the best chance of realizing that goal. This is a very active process. Wishful thinking is a passive process that involves little active effort and clearly is not likely to make a big difference to anything we do. By contrast, positive thinking regularly results in the extraordinary.
